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Mark Cascio didn’t exactly draw up a Toliver Freeman fade away 3-pointer with a defender in his face as time expired for his game-winning play, but the first-year Catholic coach won’t be complaining about the outcome.

Freeman’s shot hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded to cap off a tight contest with visiting Denham Springs (5-3) and give the Bears (4-2) a 47-44 win Tuesday night.

“It was supposed to be an inbound play and go in the point guard’s hands,” Freeman said. “It really didn’t work out that way. Michael (Francioni) got it and threw me a good pass. He got it to me and I ended up knocking it down for my teammates.”

Catholic had blown its previous shot at breaking the 44-44 tie after giving the ball away on a turnover with just more than a minute left in the game. Luckily for the Bears, Denham Springs handed it right back with an errant pass out of bounds on its ensuing possession.

The scoreboard ticked under the one minute mark as Catholic High inbounded the ball, and the Bears ran their five-wide motion to drain all but five seconds off the clock.

The Yellow Jacket defense busted the play, but Francioni managed to sneak the ball into Freeman’s hands with a second left.

“We wanted to get it inside with it tied in the last minute of the game,” Cascio said. “With the ball, you want to say you have complete control of the situation. We had drawn something up to get the ball inside from the sideline earlier but it didn’t work out. They threw it away and we wanted to isolate somebody in the post. The play broke down and I wanted to call a timeout, but the ball got in our playmakers hands and he made a play.”

“I felt it,” the sophomore said with a smile. “I knew we needed this win. It was either 3-3 or 4-2, so we really needed the win. We beat a great team.”

Denham Springs gave Catholic a run for its money, especially late in the game.

The Bears pulled ahead early with an 11-10 lead after one quarter thanks to a strong effort by senior forward Thomas Barfield, who had seven points and four rebounds after the first frame.

Catholic extended that to a 25-18 lead at the break following an 8-0 run midway through the quarter.

“We wanted to give Thomas Barfield the ball down low,” Cascio said. “He did a real good job of being physical and getting some easy baskets.”

The Bears pushed their lead to as many as 10 points three minutes into the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets slowly began chipping away at the deficit.

Coming out of a timeout with three minutes left in the period, Denham Springs rattled off an 8-2 run to close out the quarter. The Yellow Jackets carried that momentum into the final frame where they took their first lead since the first quarter at 41-40.

“We knew they were going to run their half-court sets really well – the back screen and down screen stuff – but what they really started doing is isolating people on the wing,” Cascio said. “We didn’t see the ball and get the help early enough and their guys made plays. It hurt us. Defensively, we didn’t play a great defensive half, but we rebounded the ball just enough to give us enough possessions to win it.”

Catholic outrebounded Denham Springs 25 to 9 in the contest and much of that paid off down the stretch as the Bears were able to find a way to win and avoid falling back down to .500.

The 4-2 record is the best start for Catholic in three years and could be the beginning of a stronger era on the court for a Bears program under their new coach.

Barfield led all players with 15 points and six rebounds, followed by Freeman’s 12 points. Five other Bears got on the score sheet as well.

Tuwian Starks paced the offence for Denham Springs with 13 points, and Zach Davidson chipped in 11 more. Torez Kinchen and Elton Knight each had nine points in the loss – the Yellow Jackets’ second in a row.